Mechanism for driving velocipedes



HOWE & HARTFORD.

Mechanism for Driving velbcipedeg.

Patented Feb. 23,1869.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANLEY HOWE AND D. FRANK HARTFORD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MECHANISM FOR DRIVING VELOGIPEDES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 87,259, dated February23, 1869.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that we, MANLEY HOW'E and D. FRANK HARTFORD, of Boston, inthe county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainImprovements in Velocipedes, of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making detail, enlarged.

In the ordinary velocipedes, as now constructed, which are propelled bymeans of foot-cranks, only a limited average can be obtained, as thelength or throw of the cranks.

must be within the range of action of thefeet or limbs of the rider.

To enable other skilled in the art to underderstand and use ourinvention, we will proceed to describe the manner in which we havecarried it out.

In the said drawings, A represents the driving shaft or axle of avelocipede, the wheels of which are intended to be secured ata b,theshaft being supported in a fraine,B, merely for convenience inillustrating our invention. This shaft A is revolved by the feet of therider in the following manner; 0 is a hollow wheel or pulley, which isfitted so as to turn loosely upon the shaft A, and is provided with arectangular groove, 0, for the reception of a strong leather strap orband, (1, which extends partially around the pulley, one extremity beingsecured to it by a screw, 0, while its opposite end passes between arod, f, and a roll, g, and has attached to it a stirrup, h, which isintended to be moved up and down between the bars 1' j of an inclinedframe, D, and is so placed as to be in a convenient position to receivethe foot of the rider, who sits upon a seat above. (Not shown in thedrawings.) Within the pulley C is pivoted a pawl, 10, which engages withthe teeth of a ratchet, l, secured to or forming a part of the shaft A,a spring, m, serving to keep the pawl in contact with the teeth of theratchet, and thus, as the stirrup h is forced down by the foot in thedirection of the arrow 7, the pulley O is partially revolved by thestrap d, and its motion communicated, through the pawl k and ratchet l,to the driving shaft or axle A, which is thus rotated as required. Assoon, however, as the pressure of the foot is removed from the stirrup hthe pulley O is revolved in the opposite direction by a flat coiledspring, at, one end of which is secured to the hub 8 of the pulley, andthe opposite end to a rod,'9, and the stirrup h is thus returned to itsoriginal position, ready to be again forced down by the foot, the pawlis passing freelyi over the'teeth of the ratchet l as the pulley iscarried back by the spring.

Instead of a coiled spring, a, a short chain may be "attached'to thehub-8 and wound partially around it, one end of the chain being securedto a flat or spiral spring attached to the frame-work. g The hub 84sattached to a circular plate, E, secured to and forming one side of thepulley O, which is prevented from moving laterally upon the shaft A bythe ratchet 1, one side of which bears against the inner face of thepulley and the opposite side against the plate E. The pawl k may be heldout of contact with the teeth of the ratchet I, so as to allow thevelocipede to be moved backward by hand, by a pin or stop, 0, the innerend of which is inclined and passes through the side of the pul-' ley 0,being forced in beneath the pawl, so as to raise it out of contact withthe teeth of. the ratchet, by a spring, p, the outer end of which isforked and fits into a groove at the end of the pin 0. This pin is held,when drawn out into the position seen in Fig. 1, by a small projection,10, on its side, which rests against the face of the pulley; and whenthe pin is turned so as to bring the projection 10 inline with anopening, 1], Fig. 5, in the side of the pulley, it is forced in by thespring 19, and the pawl 10 held up as required. Two of these pulleys Oare intended to be secured to the shaft A, each provided with a strapand stirrup, as above described, one for each foot, so that they may beoperated alternately to produce a continuous rotary motion of the shaftor axle of the velocipede.

In the drawings, however, the two pulleys are of different construction,thepulley Gand mechanism connected therewith being constructed accordingto a modification of our invention, which we will now describe.

The wheel or pulley G is securely fastened upon the shaft A by means ofa set-screw,-q, and is provided with a rectangular groove, 1', in whichis fitted a chain, H, one extremity of which is secured to a spiralspring, 8, attached to the frame-work, while the opposite end is securedto a stirrup, I, which slides in ways or grooves in the inclined frameD, and is so placed as to be in a convenient position to receive thefoot of the rider.

The periphery of the pulley G on each side of the groove 0 isprovidedwith ratchet-teeth it, into whichiit two pawls, a, pivoted to the chainH, one on each side,and kept in contact with the teeth by springs 12.;and thus, as thestirrup I is forced down in the direction of the arrowlet bythe foot of the rider, the. chain H,with its pawls, will partiallyrevolve the pulley G and driving-shaft A, while as soon as the pressureof the foot is .removedfrom the stirrup the spring 8 will draw thechain.back over the pulley, without moving the latter, (thepawls a ridingover the ratchet=teeth t,) bringingthe stirrup into the position seen inFig. 1, ready to be again forced downby the foot of the rider.

If it should be desired to movethe velocipede backward by hand, it ismerelynecessary to draw the chain H sufficiently far forward to carrythe pawls u out of contact with the ratchet-teetht or the pawls may beraised and held up by any suitable device.

It is evident that in practice it would be found desirable to have thetwo pulleys upon the shaft A of the same construction,i either similarto( or G, for thesa-keiof uniformity;

sitating any increase in the length of the stroke of stirrups, to apoint much beyond that which eanbe attained by the use of cranks, as thelength of the latter must be limited within the range of action of thelimbs of the rider.

Furthermore, in our improved velocipede the same leverage or power isexerted whether the stroke of the stirrups is long or short, thusadapting it for persons with limbs of various lengths.

It is evident that the straps or chains d H, instead of being attachedto stirrups for the reception of the feet, may be arranged so as to beoperated by the hands without departing from the .spirit of ourinvention; and instead of springs n or 8 being employed to return thepulleysand stirrupsto-their normal positions, thepulleys may be soconnected together,by a cord, chain, or other device, that therevolution of one will rotate the other in the opposite direction, andthus as one stirrup is forced down the other will bedrawn up. We prefer,however, to use the springs, as the pulleys are then entirelyindependent of each other.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1; The combination, with a velocipede, of a ratchet and reciprocatingpawl, and mechanism for disengaging the pawl from the ratchet,

. so that the velocipede may run backward,-substantially as -described.

2. The combination, with the wheel-supp orting axle of a velocipede, ofa fixed ratchetdrum and a reciprocating pawl-carrying chain, alloperating together, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the chain or equivalent operating theratchet-drum or its equivalent, of the stirrup working in guideways,substantially as described.

' MANLEY HOWE.

D. FRANK HARTFORD.

Witnesses 1?. E. TESCHEMACHER, \V. J. CAMBRIDGE.

